Say hello to our consultant Beatrice!
Beatrice has worked as a consultant since 2000. She works in various business-oriented architectural and project management roles with large client companies, collaborating with her Solita colleagues in Sweden and Finland. She has extensive experience working with architecture, detailed design and development of integrated solutions, and integration in various industries. Outside of work, she spends her time renovating an old farmhouse in Orust, meeting with friends, and reading books for her two different book clubs.
The route to becoming an Enterprise Architect/Designer
One thing has led to another. I studied industrial economics with a focus on mechanical engineering and logistics, so it’s a bit of a surprise that I ended up in the IT industry. When I did my student work placement in supply chain management, I realised that the problem the company had to solve was mostly an information problem. After that, I first worked with IT solutions for SCM at Electrolux, and then slipped into working with integrations.
Working for the client
I’ve worked for a long time as a developer and integration architect, but in recent years I’ve been working more in general architectural roles. Right now I’m working with a large international company, for whom we first did a feasibility study, and now we’re working on an RFP for an MDM product that will allow them to manage customer data, etc.
I’ve also recently started a project with a major automotive manufacturer, working with a Solita colleague in Finland. The colleague first did a feasibility study to build a data catalogue, and now I’ve come in as a project manager, and I’m working on proof of concept, evaluation and what will lead to the customer being able to select the product they want to buy.
Life as a consultant
I’ve mostly worked in large companies and with a lot of global contacts, including in the banking, automotive, retail, and energy industries. Before the pandemic, I worked on a global pricing project in the automotive industry for a long time. It was a really enjoyable project – large, complex and with many people from all over the world involved. You had to work very closely with the organisation, and with all the developers and architects.
I’ve always liked working very closely with businesses on business problems, not just on technology. As a consultant, you can work for a long time in the same company but still feel like you’re “changing jobs” when you change projects. It’s always fun to learn new things and see how different companies work.
The future of design
I think everything we’re working on is very exciting! We’re focusing on the entire strategic thinking around customers becoming more data-driven in designing services and architecture overall, and more specifically with e.g. information modelling, architecture, and processes. I personally attended a training programme to become a certified enterprise architect a few years ago. There, I learned about process modelling, information modelling, and business capabilities, but also business development and design thinking.
It’s good that we are a mix of different people with different backgrounds working on these issues, but it’s also good to be analytical and structured. You don’t always need to have a super technical background.
Life at Solita
I feel very good about the culture at Solita. You have a lot of different colleagues from whom you can learn new things, and everyone is very helpful. We work together a lot. With the pandemic ongoing, we’re realising that we’re not so geographically limited either. Instead, we’re using different channels to communicate with each other, and there’s a structure for that. My colleagues at Solita are helpful, unpretentious, friendly, skilful, and professional at the same time!